In the second grade, Jessie
Clever began a story about a duck and a lost ring. Two harrowing pages of wide
ruled notebook paper later, the ring was found. And Jessie has been writing
ever since. Armed with the firm belief that women in the Regency era could be
truly awesome heroines, Jessie began telling their stories in her Spy Series, a
thrilling ride in historical espionage that showcases human faults and triumphs
and most importantly, love. Learn more about Jessie and her books at her website.
What Happens in Portland, Maine…
When She Knows came about as I said a rocky goodbye to my 20s, and dove head first
into the new responsibilities and headaches of my 30s. I found myself looking
back on those carefree days of my 20s with longing only to adjust my view to
the present, and wish for nothing to change.
But it got me thinking. And
thinking often leads to a book—in this case, my first contemporary romance.
The story of Shannon Wynter,
a twenty-something year old grappling with the pressures of work, family, and a
love life (if you could even call it that!) could not have been told without
the proper backdrop. That backdrop was the very city in which I played out my
own crazy 20 something-year-old days: Portland, Maine.
Portland is the last cluster
of civilization before Interstate 95 disappears up into the great unknown that
is most of the state of Maine. People often say that once you’re past Portland,
you’re in the wilderness. I was fortunate enough to go to school in Portland
and land my first job there, leading to four incredible years in an incredible
city.
Portland is not a big city,
but it’s big enough to have all the sights and attractions you expect from a
city: Theater, restaurants, and a hopping music scene, beautiful sights and
historical districts. But while any city can boast a long list of tourist
traps, Portland carries with it something else—the feeling of a small town in a
metropolis.
When you travel into
Portland, you can escape down to the waterfront and the Old Town. Once you’re
there, you’ll forget that you’re in a city at all. You’ll forget the highway zipping
by you in all directions and the industrial sector just over the water. It all
falls away as the comforting spirit of Old Town surrounds you, wrapping you in
its small village feel. With cobblestone streets, intriguing shops, and an array
of restaurants, Old Town can almost be called quaint. But as the life oozes
from between the old buildings, as it moves in waves through the pedestrian ways,
it does not feel like a little village at all.
That is the enigmatic ways
of Portland. The city that’s not quite a village, and the village with too much
life to be just that. The divide between the two perfectly mirrors the conflict
faced by Shannon Wynter in When She Knows,
making Portland the perfect location for a little shake-up in an otherwise
ordered life.
When She Knows
A Franconia Notch Trilogy, Book One
His latest problem is her newest
assignment.
Shannon Wynter has it all figured it. Abandoned by her mother and left to care
for her agoraphobic father, Shannon focuses on building her career as a
journalist to the detriment of all else including her love life.
Ian Darke has his own problems. Battling past failures, Ian sets his eyes on
launching a new factory for his father’s defense firm. But it’s the very father
he failed that will do anything to sabotage Ian’s progress.
And when Shannon follows an anonymous tip that leads her to Ian’s factory door,
the last thing she expects to discover is what she already knows.
